What is a Wishlist and How Does it Work?
Oct 7, 2024
Ever seen something online that you’re not ready to buy quite yet – only to forget what it was and where you saw it? That’s where a wishlist comes in.
Here, we’ll break down exactly what a wishlist is, how it works and what it’s for.
What is a wishlist?
A wishlist is a place to save items that you like the look of but you’re not ready to buy just yet.
It’s a great way to keep track of products that take your fancy, compare them to one another, and even share them with family and friends who are hoping to buy you a gift for a special occasion.
Generally speaking, there are two kinds of wishlists:
Wishlists on store websites
What is a wishlist on a website?
Many online stores will have a wishlist functionality on their website.
The chances are you’ve seen this before – have you ever been shopping online and noticed a heart-it or ‘add to wishlist’ option alongside the usual ‘add to cart’ button?
Selecting this option will make the items available for you to view later on. You’ll usually just need to create an account to access them.
Often, you’ll also be able to provide your email to get updates on things like availability, new deals or new color options.
The problem?
Unless you only ever shop on one website, you’ll end up with wishlists here, there and everywhere.
This can make keeping track of them all an issue in itself.
Plus, it makes things harder if you want to share your wishlists with friends and family. Which brings us onto…
What is a universal wishlist?
A universal wishlist is a wishlist where you can add items from any store in the world – like Moonsift!
Instead of belonging to a store, these wishlists are independent websites and apps where you can save items you come across wherever you’re shopping.
At Moonsift, our universal ‘save’ button is available on both desktop and mobile.
In this way, you can add items to your wishlist in just a couple of clicks, whether you’re browsing items on your phone or your work computer.
You’ll then have one central place where you can track and compare all the products that take your fancy until you’re ready to buy – or share them with family and friends!
What does a wishlist do?
A wishlist can do so many things. In fact, once you create one, you’ll be wondering what took you so long!
Save items for later
The primary goal of a wishlist is to help you save items for later.
In this way, you can keep track of all the items you like until you’re ready to buy – instead of running the risk of losing them.
Compare similar products
Struggling to decide which product best meets your needs?
Saving all the items you’re considering to your wishlist will give you one easy place to compare them before making a decision.
Share gift ideas
Ever been asked ‘what do you want for your birthday?’ only to forget about all the items that took your fancy over the last few months?
A wishlist can be a great place to save gift ideas and share them with loved ones ahead of a birthday, holiday or life event – so, you actually get gifts you’ll use.
Collaborate
You might not always make purchasing decisions on your own.
With a wishlist, you can easily share your favorite items with collaborators so you can make decisions as a team. This can be especially handy if you’re tackling a project at home – like a lounge renovation or creating a nursery for a new baby!
Price tracking
Reluctant to buy items full price?
Saving them to a wishlist can help you to catch when they go on sale. At Moonsift, we’ll even notify you if the price of any saved items changes.
How does a wishlist work?
Not all wishlists will work in exactly the same way. However, to give you an idea, here’s how it works if you decide to create a wishlist on Moonsift.
Download the app on your smartphone or add Moonsift to your browser on desktop
Browse and shop as normal
Save items you like with one click
Share your wishlist with friends and family (or just keep it for yourself!)
As you can see, it’s super easy to create a wishlist and share it with loved ones.
In fact, Moonsift is even free!
What’s the difference between a wishlist and a registry?
The terms ‘wishlist’ and ‘registry’ are sometimes used interchangeably. But there are key differences between them.
A wishlist, in its simplest form, is a place to save items for later.
What you do with it is then up to you – you can use it to track items, compare products or share gift ideas with family and friends.
On the other hand, a gift registry is a collection of items that you put together especially for gifting.
In other words, the whole point of a gift registry is to share it with your circle so that they can gift you the items on it.
For this reason, registries are normally used for specific occasions, like weddings, baby showers, birthdays and Christmas.
Of course, you can use a wishlist in this way too. But as registries are designed especially for gifting, they’ll often have some additional features to facilitate this.
For instance, the list of items will usually update whenever a product is bought, to help you avoid duplicate gifts.
At Moonsift, you can create both wishlists and registries. In fact, you can even set an existing wishlist to ‘registry’ mode so that loved ones can help you tick items off your list.
Not only will this help you avoid duplicate gifts, but you can also decide when you want to find out who’s bought you what. So, you can keep it as a surprise until a special occasion – or sneak a peek if you can’t wait (we won’t tell!).
Create a wishlist on Moonsift
Moonsift has everything you could want from a wishlist and more.
Free!
Easy to use
Lets you add items from any store in the world
Share with one simple link
Access from any device
Best of all, you can save items you like wherever you are and whenever you fancy!
Want to get started? Simply create a wishlist today.
Things people ask about wishlists
What is an example of a wishlist?
One example would be a birthday wishlist.
Creating a birthday wishlist is a great way to let friends and family know what products you have your eye on, so they can get you gifts you actually want this year.
Here’s an example birthday wishlist we’ve created for inspiration.
What is the meaning of a wishlist?
According to Google’s English dictionary, the word ‘wishlist’ means ‘a list of desired things or occurrences.’
The word is often used to refer to unobtainable items. But in online shopping, it’s used to describe a list of items you’d like to purchase.
What is a wishlist on Amazon?
A wishlist on Amazon is a feature that lets you save products from Amazon’s store to one central place – so you can keep track of the items you like or share them with friends and family as gift ideas.
Amazon is a great store to create a wishlist on as it sells such a broad range of items. However, it still won’t give you as much choice as a universal wishlist.
At Moonsift, you can save items you like to your wishlist from any store in the world, meaning you’re not restricted to items from just Amazon.
